


The Voyage Home

by LaMaupin



Category: Power Rangers (2017)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, F/F, Gen, Post-Canon, Road Trips, and now involves a surprising amount of ecology, and then kind of got away from me, this started out as a road trip au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-06
Updated: 2017-08-06
Packaged: 2018-12-12 03:49:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,505
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11728884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LaMaupin/pseuds/LaMaupin
Summary: The idea of spending a week alone in a car with Kim terrifies Trini. Goes against all her better judgement. She casts around for any reason to refuse but she comes up empty. Kim is looking at her hopefully and her desire to make Kim happy is warring with every instinct of self preservation she has. Not for the first time she curses her stupid crush on her best friend.





	The Voyage Home

**Author's Note:**

> So this kind of got away from me, but in a good way I think.
> 
> Alternate titles include "Trini vs. the Forces of Nature" and "Star Trek IV: The One With the Whales"

Jason and Trini don’t really hang out. Not in the way that she does with Zack or Kim or even Billy when she needs the quiet comfort of not talking. So it comes as somewhat of a surprise when he asks her to meet him at the mine one evening. 

She tries to ignore the worry that rises in her stomach as she makes her way to the cliff above the ship, where he’s sitting, legs dangling over the water far below. It’s irrational she knows, but Jason wanting to talk has rarely ended well. 

“I got your text,” she says, pulling her jacket tighter around herself in a vain attempt to stave off the early March chill. “What’s up?”

“Hey,” he says and gestures for her to sit down. “I wanted to talk to you about something.”

That’s less than reassuring, but she sits down next to him anyways. The faster they get this over with the faster she can go literally anywhere else. 

The sun's long set but the moon hangs low over the trees and the stars are brighter here, away from the lights of the city. She imagines it would be romantic if she were here with -- with someone else. 

They sit in amiable silence. Or at least, it would be amiable if Jason didn’t look like he’s steeling himself for something unpleasant. It’s a look Trini’s seen more times than she would like lately. 

“I’m worried about...well about everyone really. About the team,” he finally says, and she really should have seen this coming. Even so, she doesn’t particularly want to have this conversation. “Ever since...ever since Christmas everyone’s seemed, I don’t know, off I guess. Angry. Distant.”

“So why are you asking me?” she asks. This is not their relationship. They don’t talk about feelings and try to fix the team or whatever. And she prefers it that way. She has enough of her own shit to deal with without worrying about the others. 

Jason sighs. This conversation is clearly not going how he planned. “Because Billy is pretending like everything’s fine and Kim has barely spoken to me in two months and Zack is...Zack. But you’ll at least tell me the truth.”

Trini blinks at him slowly, doing her best to convey just how much she’s judging him. He really can’t be that dense. “You mean, you want me to tell you why everyone’s been weird since you sat us down and told us all that you and Zordon had decided that we can’t leave Angel Grove after graduation because of the fate of the universe or whatever? I can’t imagine why we’d be upset about that.”

“Hey, that’s not fair,” Jason says, taken aback. “It’s not like I conspired against you guys. Everything changed when we became Power Rangers. We don’t get to be normal kids anymore.”

She sighs and looks back out over the mine laid out below them. It really is a nice view. “I know that. But does it matter?”

_ Jason paced back and forth in front of them. They were gathered in Billy’s basement for a Christmas party, but it was really an excuse to hang out over winter break without training or Zordon’s increasingly annoying warnings about being prepared for the forces of galactic evil or whatever. But now Jason “wanted to talk” and the mood had become less than festive. _

_ “Are you gonna talk or just pace for the rest of the night?” Kim asked after the silence stretched on long enough to be awkward. _

_ “Yeah, bro. Who died?” Zack asked from where he was sprawled across Trini’s lap. _

_ Jason abruptly stopped pacing and faced them. He had that distant look he got when he went into team leader mode. It wasn’t comforting. _

_ “I’ve been talking to Zordon, and as you know, it’s our duty as Power Rangers to protect the Zeo Crystal from all who would attempt to steal its power,” he said, his hands clasped behind his back and his gaze falling somewhere in the space between Kim and Billy. _

_ “It’s not like he ever lets us forget,” Kim said, rolling her eyes. _

_ “Whoever wields the Crystal wields the power of life itself,” Billy said in his best Zordon impression, making the rest of them laugh. Except Jason, who still wouldn’t look at them directly. _

_ Trini sipped her eggnog and waited for the other shoe to drop. Jason looked too much like her dad did whenever he was about to tell her they were moving again for there not to be another shoe.  _

_ “Well it’s true, and it means that we have to stay in proximity to the Crystal to protect it.” Jason ran his hand through his hair. He hesitated before continuing, and Trini felt Kim tense beside her. “So we have to stay in Angel Grove. For the foreseeable future at the very least. We can’t...we can’t leave, for college or anything else.” _

_ There it was. The other shoe. Trini would be lying if she said she hadn’t seen this coming, but hearing it out loud was a different thing altogether. And from the way the air went out of the room she wasn’t the only one. _

_ Billy started to speak and then stopped himself, looking confused. Kim sat stiffly next to her, her fists clenched as if she was trying very hard to restrain herself from punching something. Or someone. Jason looked like he just kicked a puppy. _

_ Zack shrugged. “Wasn’t planning on leaving town anyways.” _

_ Trini shoved him. “Not cool.” _

_ “What?” _

_ “Read the room.” _

_ He looked around, finally picking up on the tension from the rest of them. “Oh, right. Sorry.” _

_ “Look,” Jason said, looking at each of them in turn, “I know this sucks, but it’s our destiny. We have to make sacrifices for the greater good.” _

_ It was Kim who finally broke the silence. “Fuck you, Jason. And fuck destiny.” _

_ She was off the couch and up the stairs before any of them could react. _

_ “Kimberly! Kim, c’mon!” Jason shouted after her. “Let’s talk about this!” _

_ Trini dumped Zack off her lap and went after her, but by the time she made it outside Kim was already gone. _

Trini blinks away the memory when Jason starts talking again. “I guess I just don’t understand why everyone’s still so mad. It’s been two months and Kim still won’t talk to me. She had to have realized before that we’re stuck here.”

“Realizing it and being told that all her plans for the future don’t matter because of destiny or whatever aren’t exactly the same thing,” Trini says. “You can’t expect her to get over the years she spent planning her escape in a few months.”

Jason sighs in frustration and shakes his head. “It’s not like she’s the only one. We’re all in the same boat. And like half our graduating class aren’t going to college. It’s not that big a deal.”

“C’mon dude, it’s not about college and you know that.” Trini tries to find the words to explain what exactly she feels like she’s lost. Why the last two months have made her wonder if being a Ranger is worth the sacrifice. “It’s about getting out of the shitty small town and getting to reinvent yourself and leaving behind who everyone thinks you are. You of all people should understand that.”

Jason at least has the good grace to look ashamed. “Yeah...yeah I get that. I just wish I knew how to help.”

“Me too.”

The silence stretches long enough for Trini to consider going home when Jason turns back to her. “How about you? How are you holding up?”

“Angel Grove isn’t the worst small town I’ve lived in,” she says with a shrug. It’s technically true, but seeing as she spent ninth grade in a town of about a hundred people in the middle of Wisconsin it’s not exactly saying much.

“That’s not an answer,” Jason says, looking at her expectantly.

She bites back a snarky response. She owes him that much at least. And she finds that she actually wants to tell him the truth. Because no one else has bothered to ask. Not really.

“College has always been an escape. From my family, from the conservative small town bullshit, from all of it. Ever since...ever since I realized I was gay.” The word sticks in her throat. It’s easier to say than it used to be, but the old familiar anxiety still grips her and she can’t look at Jason, sitting there, looking at her like she might break. “All I had to do was keep my grades up and I could get out...but now...so yeah, it’s been tough I guess.”

He puts his arm around her and pulls her into a tight half hug. She swallows thickly, unwilling to cry about this, especially not in front of him. Her power coin is a comforting weight in her hand. She doesn’t remember taking it out of her pocket. “But I get to be a superhero so that’s cool.”

“Yeah the superhero thing doesn’t suck,” he says and she has to suppress a laugh at how ridiculous it all is. Sitting here talking to Jason of all people.

“This is weird, right?” Jason asks, after the moment stretches on too long.

She pulls away from him and pushes herself to her feet. “Yep. Definitely weird. Let’s not do that again.”

“Agreed.” He jumps to his feet and she rolls her eyes. Showing off is usually more Zack’s style. “But seriously, if you ever need to talk, about anything…”

“Don’t hold your breath,” she says, and then, “but thanks. And I think Kim will be okay. You just need to give her some time. And maybe talk to us next time, instead of just announcing something. We’re a team, right?”

He nods, and even in the low light she can see his shoulders relax. “Yeah. And Trini? Thanks. For talking to me.”

She doesn’t respond, but she feels lighter than she has in a while. Not that she’ll ever admit that to anyone, least of all Jason. She can’t let him get too big a head or anything.

***

“Name and describe two theories about the origin of life on Earth,” Kim reads. She flips the flashcard over and looks at Trini expectantly.

They’re studying for the AP Bio exam, which seems pointless to Trini, but Kim had insisted -- out of denial or a need for a sense of normalcy Trini doesn’t ask -- and it’s better than the increasing tension about the looming college decision deadline at home or yet another lecture about their duty to the planet from Zordon.

“Trick question. Life on Earth was seeded by the fragment of the Zeo Crystal currently residing under this very Krispy Kreme,” Trini says, tapping the table. “Or, if you believe my ninth grade science teacher, life was created by God six thousand years ago.”

Kim gives her an unamused look. “Can you please take this seriously?”

Trini wants to bite back, to ask why she should take what amounts to a pointless exam seriously. Why this matters so damn much. But she doesn’t. The five college admissions emails sitting unread in her inbox are answer enough.

She bites her tongue but she doesn’t look away. Not until Kim sighs and drops her gazed to her lap.

“Please?”

The way she says it -- softly and not quite pleading -- cuts right through Trini’s defenses. Not that she can ever truly say no to Kim.

“Fine.” She hates that Kim has this effect on her. That Kim makes her care. But she can’t help herself around her. She’ll do anything Kim asks of her and more.“Panspermia, the one where life started somewhere else and was introduced to the planet by space rocks. And RNA world, where everything was RNA based until DNA and proteins evolved to stabilize and propagate RNA.”

“Correct,” Kim says, checking the answer on the back of the card. “Your turn.”

Trini grabs a flashcard off the stack in the middle of the table. Because studying for an exam she doesn’t care about is easier than all the things they aren’t talking about.

“Modern birds and mammals share an ancient common ancestor that was terrestrial, but penguins and whales both have limbs adapted for swimming,” she reads. “How would you best describe the relationship between the bones in the forelimbs of penguins and whales?”

Kim taps her pen on the table as she thinks. “They have a common ancestor so that makes it a...homologous structure?”

“Yep,” Trini tosses the card back at the pile a bit too hard and it scatters the rest of the stack across the table. Kim gives her a pointed look, and well, she deserves it. Acting out isn’t her style. 

“I love whales,” Trini says as she gathers the flashcards back up, trying to lighten the mood. “Especially orcas.  _ Free Willy  _ was basically my favorite movie as a kid.”

Kim raises an eyebrow. “I never pegged you as a whale kid. I pictured you more as a stomping around beating up all the little boys kind of child.”

“I did that too. Just while pretending to be Shamu.” She can’t help but smile at the memory. Things were simple back then, before...well, before she had a destiny she’d never wanted and friends she’d never asked for. 

Kim ducks her head to hide a laugh and a warmth rises in Trini’s chest. She likes making Kim laugh, especially now, when everything feels so serious. 

“We should go whale watching,” Kim says suddenly, looking up from her coffee. “After graduation...we can road trip up to the Puget Sound. They have orcas up there, right?”

Trini blinks, genuinely surprised. Anxiety wraps it’s icy fingers around her spine and she doesn’t know why. “Do you really think Zordon will let us abandon Angel Grove even for that long?”

Kim looks at her like she’s being dense and maybe she is. Willful ignorance is an old habit; a skill developed out of necessity and honed by years in the sorts of small towns where presumption can get you killed. “The boys can hold down the fort for a week. And Zordon owes us this much at least.”

The idea of spending a week alone in a car with Kim terrifies her. Goes against all her better judgement. She casts around for any reason to refuse but she comes up empty. Kim is looking at her hopefully and her desire to make Kim happy is warring with every instinct of self preservation she has. Not for the first time she curses her stupid crush on her best friend.

“Sure.” Her tone borders on noncommittal, but then Kim genuinely smiles for the first time in what feels like ages, and for a second Trini can almost convince herself that she won’t regret saying yes.

Kim spends the rest of the afternoon making plans, flashcards forgotten, which does nothing to lighten the stone that’s settled in the pit of Trini’s stomach.

***

“‘Whale watching’? Is that what the kids are calling it these days?” Zack asks with a smirk and Trini can hear the quotes he’s putting around the words.

Neither of them had wanted to go home after training so they’re perched on top of his old train car sharing a bottle of cheap vodka. 

She shakes her head and grabs the bottle from him. “It’s not like that.”

“Oh sure, you’re going on a totally platonic solo road trip with Kimberly Hart, who you’re secretly in love with, because you said you liked whales. That’s totally a thing a best friends who don’t wanna bang do together.” He’s grinning at her in a way that makes her want to smack him, but she restrains herself. She’s really regretting telling him about her feelings for Kim right about now. 

“How would you know?”  She asks, raising an eyebrow.

“Because you’re my best friend, and you definitely don’t want to bang me-” He looks smug when she makes a face. “And you have never once invited me on a road trip. So either you have to up your friend game or Kim secretly wants to bang you.”

“You realize that makes zero sense right?” 

He leans in close and taps his forehead. “Think about it.”

She would rather not.

The truth is she’s spent the last several weeks trying really hard not to think about exactly what he’s implying. She decided months ago that her crush on Kim is nothing but an inconvenience and she isn’t going to indulge it. Thinking about Kim like that makes her feel guilty. Like she’s betraying their friendship. Easier to just ignore it and hope it goes away. It’s worked before.

She takes a bigger swig of vodka than she intended, grimacing as the alcohol burns her throat. “How can you drink this stuff? It tastes like nail polish remover.”

“Easy.” He snatches the bottle back and takes a long drink. He finishes and smacks his lips at her. “Ahhhh. Refreshing.”

“Show off,” she says affectionately.

“Me? A show off?” He puts his hand over his heart in feigned indignation. 

She rolls her eyes and flips him off.

He ignores her. “I think we need to address the fact that you like whales. How could you not tell me you’re an…” he leans into the dramatic pause, giving her a shit eating grin, “orca dorka?”

Trini punches him in the arm and tries to shove him off the train car but he resists, using the fact that he’s over a foot taller than her to keep out of her reach. She settles for stealing the bottle back from him while he laughs hysterically at his own joke.

“I’m never telling you anything ever again,” she grumbles, taking another drink. 

They settle into companionable silence, watching the sun start to set over the mine. 

“You know, I’m actually kinda excited for graduation,” Zack says after a while.

“Don’t you have to take a summer class to make up for all the school you missed?” She asks, passing the bottle back to him.

“Well yeah, but I still get to graduate,” he says seriously. “I never thought I’d actually make it this far before.”

He takes a drink and wipes his mouth on his sleeve.

“I’m gonna be a high school graduate!” he yells into the air, arms above his head, triumphant. It echoes back to them, the fading syllables swallowed by the wind.

He turns back to her, more serious this time. “I just wish my mom could come. But sitting for that long is hard for you, you know?”

Trini leans against him, wishing she could tell him that everything will be alright and his mom will get better and he won’t have to be alone in the world by the time he’s twenty-five. But he deserves better than empty promises.

“We’ll film it for her,” she tells him. It’s all she can give him and they both know it’s not enough. “The whole thing. So she can watch it.”

His face lights up. “You’re the best Crazy Girl.”

She uses it as an opportunity to steal the vodka back. “I know.”

“Wait,” he says, looking down at her. “I thought you weren’t planning on going to graduation.”

“I wasn’t, but then my parents found out about the whole no college thing, and they’re convinced I’m failing out of school or something. So I agreed to go to graduation to prove that I’m actually graduating.” She picks at the bottle’s label absently. It hasn’t helped with the constant stream of disappointed sighs and pointed glares from her mom since the college decision deadline came and went, but there’s nothing she can do about that. “They’ve been all over me about it too. I told them I don’t want to wear a dress and they invited our priest over for dinner.”

“You can crash here tonight if you want,” Zack says after a while. He’s good like that. He understands what it’s like to not want to go home, even if it’s for different reasons.

“I would but my mom actually cares if I come home these days.” She tosses the bottle back to him and jumps down from the car. “And I don’t want another awkward dinner with Father Reyes.”

It’s a long walk home from the mine, and by the time she gets back to the city it’s dark and the warm buzz of the vodka has worn off.

She sees Kim’s light on when she passes her house and she’s tempted to climb up and say hi. To spend the rest of the night with Kim, not thinking about parents’ expectations or unanswered college letters of the weight of their destiny. It she closes her eyes and extends her senses she can feel Kim through the Morphing Grid: a dim pink light at the edge of her perception.

She wonders if Kim can sense her too.

But she doesn’t want to intrude. So she keeps walking, towards another night of being constantly reminded of exactly how she’s failed. At least at home she knows what to expect.

***

Trini stares unseeing at her Better Choices Workbook. The indignity of having to go to detention after the seniors’ last day of classes is making the time pass even slower than normal.

The last page of the workbook is an essay question asking what you’ve learning from this experience, and all she’s written after nearly three hours is ‘don’t get caught.’ It’s more succinct that ‘don’t accidentally get super powers with a bunch of random kids and then end up letting them into your life so you can defeat a creepy evil alien lady, because now you’re stuck with them forever and bound to this shitty small town you hate for the rest of your life.’

She grabs a piece of paper out of the air without looking up. If it’s general trajectory didn’t tell her it’s from Kim then the precise folding pattern would: an interlocking set of triangles she can never quite manage to replicate.

She unfolds it to reveal a map of the west coast, detailing the route for their trip. Stops are marked out in San Francisco, the Redwood Forest, and Portland on the way up and Yosemite on the way back. ‘Camping!’ is written with far too much enthusiasm in several spots. 

She looks up and catches Kim’s eye, raising an eyebrow. Kim smiles and gives her a thumbs up. Her breath catches in the way that she’s come to specifically associate with Kim smiling at her and she can’t help but smile back. God she’s such a fucking sap.

Before she can respond, another note comes whizzing through the air, this time from Zack’s general direction. It contains a poorly done drawing of what she thinks is supposed to be her and Kim making out with a whale in the background. 

She looks over to find Zack grinning at her as it he’s done something clever. Rather than encouraging him she crumples the note up and drops it on the floor. It doesn’t have the desired effect and he just keeps grinning. She really needs better friends. 

The bell finally rings and Zack lets out a whoop. 

Trini grabs her stuff and meets Kim where she’s waiting by the door. “You know when I agreed to this road trip I didn’t realize we’d be roughing it. I hope you know what you’re doing because I don’t camp.”

Kim gives her a skeptical look. “Says the girl who regularly did yoga on the top of a mountain before she got superpowers.”

“Climbing around the mine and camping in actual forests aren’t even close to the same thing,” Trini says as they climb the stairs. 

“Seriously?” Kim asks. “You’ve never been camping?”

“My family isn’t exactly outdoorsy.” It’s an oversimplification of the procession of too neat houses in small towns surrounded by cornfields that was her childhood, but it gets the point across.

“Well you’re in luck because my parents love camping so I’ve got everything we need,” Kim says.

“If we get attacked by a bear I’m blaming you,” Trini replies.

“Bear attacks are statistically quite unlikely,” Billy says as the boys catch up to them in the hallway. “And considering our augmented speed, strength, and training, you’d probably not be harmed in a bear attack anyways.”

“See,” Kim says smugly. “Billy’s on my side. Nothing to worry about.”

“Still,” Trini says, turning to the boys. “If you hear about two Power Rangers fighting bears in Yosemite you know who to blame. I’m not explaining that shit to Zordon.”

Jason pauses when they get to the entrance of the school.

“Let’s take a moment to appreciate this,” he says when they rest of them stop and turn around. “We’re officially done with high school”

“Except for Zack,” Billy says.

“Yeah,” Jason says with a laugh. “Except for Zack.”

Zack shrugs. “Worth it.”

“Having to go to summer school to make up for missing school is worth it?” Billy asks, clearly confused.

“Yup,” Zack says as if it makes the most sense in the world.

Jason gives them all an affectionate look. “Anything anyone wants to say before we go?”

“Yeah,” Kim says, turning back to face the empty hallway. “Fuck this place!”

She yells it at the top of her lungs and it echoes down the corridor. Mr. Gonzales sticks his head out of a classroom, but before he can admonish them they’re out the door and laughing on the steps of the school. 

Trini has to admit that it feels good. To be surrounded by her friends, laughing, finally free from the horrors of high school.

***

Graduation is fun. Or at least, more fun than Trini expected anything scored by Pomp and Circumstance to be. 

Her parents fuss over pictures and she’s uncomfortable in the dress she agreed to wear under the too hot polyester robe. But she also takes pictures with her friends and she films Zack as he walks across the stage and then flips off of it, much to the dismay of school officials and delight of everyone else. 

Kim looks back at her from where she’s seated near the front during the mayor’s commencement address and smiles at her and Trini smiles back and she can almost forget the price they’ve paid for this.

But later, after she’s shed the dress and her mom makes some comment about how it was so nice to see Trini in something feminine for once, when she’s sitting on her bed with nothing to show for it but an empty diploma cover -- diplomas won’t be mailed out for another 3 to 5 weeks apparently -- she wonders what it would feel like to be a normal teenager, only concerned with making the most of the summer before college. 

She turns her power coin over in her hand and stares at the spot on her wall that she’d repaired. It’s a slightly different color than the rest of the wall, a scar reminding her that she’ll never truly be free from Rita, no matter how hard she tries.

Before her pity party can really get going she hears the doorbell ring and her dad yells her name up the stairs.

When she gets downstairs she’s surprised to find Billy at the door, talking to her dad. “I’m having a graduation party -- well, more of a get together than a party because there’s only the five of us and --” he stops and waves when he sees her. “And I’m wondering if Trini can come over?”

Her dad -- who’s taken more of a shine to her friends than her mom has -- looks at Billy seriously. “Will there be adult supervision?”

“Yes there will be,” Billy says, nodding vigorously. “My mom will be there. Candace Cranston. If you would like to verify her telephone number is 555--”

“It's okay, Billy,” her dad says, smiling. “You’re all adults.”

Trini feels an overwhelming fondness for Billy in that moment. Ever since she’d told him that her parents were taking an increased interest in her comings and goings he’s made a point of asking her parents if she can hang out. He doesn’t need to -- she’s perfectly capable of handling her parents on her own -- but she appreciates the gesture. 

Her dad pulls her into a hug as she tries to leave, pressing a kiss into the top of her head.

“I’m proud of you, mija.” He says it quietly into her hair. She looks down, not sure what to do. He wouldn’t say that if he knew the truth about her. He lets her go and she slips out into the warm spring night.

“C’mon Billy,” Trini says, turning away and heading down the street. Billy only lives a couple blocks from her and she could use the walk. 

“I have something for you,” he says, digging in his pocket.

He hands her a small canister. “What is it?”

“Bear spray.” If it were anyone else she’d think it was a joke, but Billy says it with the utmost sincerity. “I’ve been reading about bears and while the California grizzly bear is extinct there are still three to five hundred black bears in Yosemite alone.”

He spends the rest of the walk talking about what to do in case of bear attack. It’s the sweetest thing someone’s done for her in a long time. Her night is already looking up.

***

“Ready?” Kim asks as Trini tosses her duffel into the trunk of Kim’s car.

Trini just shrugs. Given how nervous she is she would hesitate to call herself ready. The prospect of spending a week alone in a car with Kim is...well..it’s a lot, and the fact that Kim is far too chipper for barely 8 am isn’t doing anything to ease her anxiety.

“C’mon, it’ll be fun,” Kim says from where she’s rearranging things in the back seat.

“It’s too early for fun.” Trini gets into the car, as ready as she’s going to be.

“Oh, I almost forgot.” Kim grabs a cup from the console and hands it to her. “I got coffee.”

Trini takes it gratefully, her mood already improving. “You’re the best.”

Kim lights up and this might not be so bad after all.

They drive up the coast and Trini feels herself start to relax. Between the shine of the morning light off the water and the joy on Kim’s face as she sings along to the radio Trini wonders why she was ever so apprehensive about this -- a week with her best friend away from Angel Grove and all it’s baggage. But then again, maybe that’s the coffee talking.

It’s early afternoon when they get to San Francisco, the first stop on Kim’s itinerary. Trini’s never been to the city before, but Kim has, so she pulls Trini along, showing her the sights.

“You promised me whales, and those are definitely not whales,” Trini says with an exaggerated pout, pointing at the sea lions lining the pier.

Kim gives her a confused look. “What do you mean those aren’t whales?”

Trini takes a picture to send to Zack (captioned “is this you?”) before turning back to Kim, who’s doing an admirable job of keeping a straight face. But two can play at that game. “It’s a common misconception, but see how they have ear flaps? Whales don’t have ear flaps. Those are definitely dolphins.”

Kim stares at her for a good ten seconds before dissolving into laughter. That makes Trini laugh and soon they’re both leaning against a bench, gasping for air. Once they recover they sit, watching the sun start to bend low over the water, the crisp ocean breeze bringing with it the smell of sea and salt and fish. Trini can feel Kim watching her but she doesn’t look over, not wanting to break the spell.

“I wish we could just…” Kim says after a while, breaking Trini out of her reverie. “Not go back to Angel Grove.”

It’s a nice thought, running away. One that Trini’s had on more than one occasion herself. She tilts her head towards Kim, indulging the fantasy. “Where would we go?”

“We could just keep driving,” Kim says. “I hear Vancouver’s nice. Or we could go east. To New York or Boston. Anywhere really.”

“Sounds nice.” 

The way Kim’s looking at her -- full of wistful longing -- makes her wish that she could say yes. That they could run off into the sunset together and never look back. But her power coin is heavy in her pocket and a text from Zack blinks on her phone and there are some things she knows she’ll never have.

“Shit,” Kim says, checking her phone. “We’re gonna be late for dinner with my uncles.”

Trini silently curses Kim’s uncle for ruining the moment, but he’s letting them crash at his place for the night so she really can’t complain.

Kim’s uncle is a trim man in his late thirties who gives Kim a tight hug when they get to his apartment. 

“It’s so good to see you. Sorry I couldn’t make it down for your graduation,” he says when he lets her go. Trini feels like she’s intruding until he looks at her and she gets the distinct feeling she’s not fooling him. But the feeling passes when he smiles warmly. “You must be Kimberly’s friend.”

Kim takes that as her cue to introduce them, just as another man appears behind him in the doorway. “Trini this is my Uncle Tim and his husband James.”

She probably shouldn’t be surprised by the news that they’re staying with Kim’s gay uncles, especially since, upon reflection, Kim had always used the plural, but somehow she hadn’t put two and two together. Clearly she should pay more attention.

But before she can react they’re both hugging her in turn and taking her bags and pulling her inside. 

Dinner is nice enough, filled mostly with the usual sort of catching up with family you haven’t seen in awhile. 

When Tim asks Kim what she’s planning on doing in the fall Trini wants nothing more than to reach for her hand under the table and show her whatever support she can. But she doesn’t. Instead she clutches her napkin and listens to Kim’s clearly rehearsed answer about taking some time off to figure out what she wants to do. 

She feels like a bad friend. A coward. Unable to be the person Kim deserves. 

Eventually James turns his attention to her, giving her that same look Tim had earlier. Like he’s seeing her in a way she’s not used to being seen. “So Trini, how did you and Kimberly meet?”

The question is innocuous enough, but it throws her off balance. It’s laden with subtext she’s not sure if she’s imagining or not. She glances over at Kim, but she’s just looking at her expectantly. 

“Uh, we had bio together,” she says. 

It’s true but insufficient -- lacking the spirit of ‘she threw me off a cliff’ and ‘we accidentally discovered an ancient alien ship and got super powers together.’ But people tend not to believe those versions of the story. 

Tim must sense her hesitance because he gives her a sympathetic look. “I know how things can be in a town like Angel Grove, even these days.”

James makes a sound of agreement as Tim looks meaningfully between her and Kim. She feels like he can see right through her and she shifts in her seat, suddenly very uncomfortable. “And if either of you ever need anything, don’t hesitate to ask.”

“Um, thanks,” Kim says after a moment, shooting Trini a confused look. But Trini just looks down at her plate, overwhelmed. 

Thankfully they drop the subject and the rest of dinner passes uneventfully. But Trini can’t help but think about what her family would do in this situation. Call Father Reyes again probably. At best.

But she can’t go down that road. Not here at least. So she banishes all thoughts of family and accepts a slice of pie.

***

“What was that at dinner? That was weird right?” Kim asks later, after they’ve retreated to the guest bedroom.

Trini doesn’t look up from digging through her duffle trying to find pajamas. “They think we’re a couple.”

“Wait, really?” Kim says, confusion evident in her voice. “That can’t be right.”

Trini stops what she’s doing to give Kim an incredulous look. “Your uncle told us to ‘make good choices’ when he showed us the guest room.”

“Well yeah but…” Kim trails off, the pieces finally clicking into place. “I guess...but why would they think that?”

“I don’t know.” Trini shrugs, finally finding her pajamas balled up in the farthest reaches of her bag. If she had to hazard a guess  she’d say that it’s probably because Zack was right and straight girls don’t drive across three states to go whale watching on a whim. Well, that and the fact that she’s currently wearing yellow flannel in San Francisco. “Why? Does it bother you?”

“No! No. It’s just...I don’t know...weird I guess.” Kim flops back on the bed and doesn’t look at Trini as she retreats to the bathroom to brush her teeth.

She’s not hurt exactly, because she’s never expected anything from Kim. Not really. She’s never once let herself seriously think that Kim might return her feelings. Self preservation and everything. But it still stings. And she feels guilty for being upset. What a shitty friend she must be. 

“Look, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that,” Kim says when Trini reenters the room. She slides into bed next to Kim, but she doesn’t say anything. “I just didn’t expect it I guess.”

Trini finally looks at Kim, who seems genuinely upset. She curses herself for putting Kim in this position. For not being able to just be friends. “It’s fine. Don’t worry about it.”

Kim relaxes, smiling at her. She looks so soft right then, laying in bed backlit by the warm lamplight. And more than anything Trini wants...wants something she can’t have. Wants to break all the rules she’s set for herself. Caution to the wind and all that. But Kim is her best friend and there are some lines that she won’t let herself cross.

For once she looks away first, trying to take up as little space as possible. 

She stays there, staring up at the ceiling, long after Kim turns out the light. Trying to make sense of it all. Of the glances she catches Kim stealing when she thinks Trini’s not looking; of the way she had felt when Tim and James, two relative strangers, had seen her with more complete clarity than her own family ever has; of the power coin currently glowing softly on the bedside table, a physical reminder that her life isn’t just her own anymore.

When she finally falls into a restless sleep she dreams of the life she wishes she could have.

***

Trini wakes to a soft weight pressed up against her. When she finally opens her eyes she finds Kim cuddled close, her breath hot on Trini’s forehead. Thankfully Kim is still asleep so she doesn’t see the way Trini’s eyes go wide with -- well not panic exactly, but a mix of surprise and fear and guilt at just how natural this feels. And how easy it would be to curl into Kim and fall back asleep.

But she doesn’t want Kim to think she’s taking advantage so she rolls over, putting space back between them. Except she’d spent the night as close to the edge of the bed as possible so she rolls over onto nothing, falling to the floor with a thud.

She stares up at the ceiling, stunned more than hurt by the fall. After a second Kim appears above her, looking down at her bleary eyed. “Did you just...fall out of bed?”

Trini blinks up at her, embarrassed. “Uh, yeah. I guess I did.”

“Huh.” They stare at each other in silence for a moment, unsure what to do. “Are you gonna come back to bed or….?”

“Nah, I’m good here,” Trini says. Staying on the floor seems easier than explaining that she fell out of bed because she didn’t want to cuddle. 

Kim shakes her head in amusement. “Alright weirdo.”

Before she can do anything Kim grabs her phone. Trini makes a face as Kim snaps a picture. “You better not send that to the boys.”

“Too late,” Kim says with a smirk, hitting send with an exaggerated flourish.

“You’re the worst.” Trini throws her arm over her face dramatically.

She hears Kim laugh. “If you don’t get back in bed I’m going to send them this picture too.”

“Fine,” Trini grumbles, the last traces of embarrassment fading.

Once she’s safely back in bed Kim rests her head on Trini’s shoulder as if it’s the most natural thing in the world. “See? Much better than the floor.”

Trini looks down at Kim, at the way her skin glows in the early morning light and her hair falls against Trini’s arm and she hums in agreement, not trusting her voice not to betray her.

“You know,” Trini says after a while. “If your uncles didn’t think we were dating before they definitely do now after all the noise we just made.”

Kim buries her face in Trini’s shoulder with a groan. When she finally speaks her voice is muffled. “The noise you made you mean. I had no part in it.”

Trini smirks. “That’s not what they think.”

Kim moves so fast that Trini doesn’t see the pillow coming until it’s too late. She lets out a startled yelp, but before she can retaliate there’s a knock at the door.

“Are you two okay in there?” James asks through the door.

“Yeah, just fine. Sorry.” Kim’s eyes are wide with panic and her face is so red Trini can feel the heat coming off of it. She would laugh, but she’s more than a little embarrassed herself. 

Once they hear him leave Kim gives Trini a stern look. “See what you’ve done?”

Trini raises her eyebrows in her best ‘who me?’ look. Kim shakes her head and gets up, but Trini lingers, savoring the feeling of waking up next to Kim for as long as she can before the spell breaks and she has to face reality.

***

They spend the day driving north, the flat farmland of central California slowly turning into old growth woodlands.

They get to the Redwood Forest in the middle of the afternoon but by the time they check in and find a campsite it’s already early evening.

Trini stares at the pile of poles and fabric in front of her, willing it to become a tent. It just lays there, mocking her.

“You know it’s not gonna assemble itself, right?” Kim asks, dropping a load of firewood nearby.

“I told you I don’t camp,” Trini grumbles, crossing her arms in a way she can only describe as petulant. 

Kim scoffs. “Don’t tell me the great Yellow Ranger has been bested by a tent.”

“In case you hadn’t noticed these instructions make no sense,” Trini says defensively. 

Kim gives her a smug look and picks up a pole.

Much to Trini’s chagrin Kim has the tent assembled in five minutes flat, and she’s no less smug than before. “And that’s why the Pink Ranger is the best.”

Trini rolls her eyes. “Well what’s next then oh great Pink Ranger?”

“Hiking, obviously.”

It feels good to walk after spending all day in the car, and the trail out of the campground is fairly easy. They pass groups of other hikers as they make their way deeper into the forest, but Trini barely notices, unable to look away from the increasingly large trees that surround them.

They’re too big to comprehend -- filling her entire field of vision and still extending upwards. Her only real frame of reference is Goldar and Megazord, and these are taller, wider, seeming to go on forever. 

They make her feel small, inconsequential. A speck of dust barely worth noticing among the sheer grandeur of redwoods.

Kim stops suddenly and Trini almost runs into her, startling her out of her reverie. 

“Do you feel that?” Kim asks, pulling out her power coin. It glows softly in the gathering dusk, casting a dim pink light into the shadows.

Trini’s power coin vibrates against her leg and when she digs it out of her pocket it’s warm to the touch. It pulls slightly against her fingers, leading her off the path. 

Kim looks just as confused as she feels as she glances down at her coin. “I guess we have to follow them.”

The coins lead them deeper into the forest, winding between trees that tower above them. Eventually they come to a grove, although grove doesn’t do the place justice. It’s more like a stadium outlined in massive pillars of living wood, surrounding a single redwood even bigger than the rest.

The coins are glowing brightly now, lighting up the underbrush in eerie shades pink and yellow. It only adds to the persistent sense that they’re not supposed to be here that creeps up Trini’s spine.

Something akin to dread fills her as they approach it -- a whisper at the edge of her perception. A single note too low to hear that reverberates deep in her chest. 

Kim reaches out and grabs her hand and for once Trini doesn’t think, doesn’t worry and the implications or where bounds of propriety are. She just grips Kim’s hand, a lifeline keeping her from being swept away.

She looks over at Kim, who meets her eyes, clearly just as overwhelmed as she is. But she sees steel there as well -- a resolute knowledge of what they have to do. What the coins have brought them here for.

“Ready?” Trini flinches at the sound of her own voice, too loud for this place. She is suddenly very aware that this is not a place for humans. 

Kim nods and takes a breath. “Ready.”

They reach out and touch the tree. 

It feels like the first time they had connected to the Morphing Grid. That same headrush and overwhelming connectedness. Like her soul is too big for her body and spilling out at the seams.

But instead of her friends, her team, there’s only Kim, a pink light shining next to her, mixing with her own bright yellow, and the tree in front of them. Except not. Rather, the whole forest, surrounding them, intertwining, pulsing. A thousand strands of light weaving together, holding them fast.

_ Welcome Rangers _

It’s not a voice exactly. It’s a complete absence of sound but also --the low pitched groan of tree growth sped up a thousand times --the whistle of wind through branches  --the crack of wood splitting --the quiet crunch of leaves underfoot. It bypasses her ears in favor of manifesting fully formed inside her head. Trini shudders.

_ We have waited a long time for your return _

“Who are you, exactly?” Kim asks, her voice steady but just barely. “Who are we speaking to?”

_ We are _

A series of images, impressions --leaves straining for sunlight above the canopy --new growth after a fire --a squirrel soaring from branch to branch high above the ground --a river slowly eroding its banks --insects turning leaves into mulch --bacteria turning mulch into soil --sunlight and air and water all combining to form a single tree and a vast forest.

_ We are _

It’s a complete sentence.

Trini holds tight to Kim’s hand, grounding herself as much as she can.

“How long have you been waiting?” Her voice cracks and Kim squeezes her hand, a small comfort.

_ As long as we have existed. Longer _

\--the sun rises and sets innumerable times --the planet gets hot then cold then hot again --glaciers form and spread, carving vast valleys in their wake, and melt, leaving nothing but scars to remember them by --the earth shakes and burns like clockwork until it doesn’t --trees live and die but the forest endures. The forest remembers.

Hundreds of miles away the Zeo Crystal burns bright, the source of all that is and all that can be.

_ Protect us _

The forest sings and Trini understands. She sees the way the Crystal drives the system. The way it connects the bacteria in the soil and the centuries old behemoths that surround them and the cycle of death and regrowth that keeps it all going. And this is just one forest. A tiny dot on the surface of a living planet, barely enough to register on the scale of all life on earth.

This is their destiny -- their mandate as Rangers. It’s not about the Crystal, and maybe it never really was. It’s about all of it. Every bug and every tree and every soul on the planet. Like it or not.

“We will.”

The tree, or the forest, or whatever sliver of the Crystal they’re talking to must accept it because suddenly they’re standing in the woods again, the dark of a cool summer night gathering around them.

Trini feels the weight of her power coin back in her pocket, cool against her skin as if nothing happened.

The forest releases them, opening up before them, and they find their way back to the trail with ease, despite the growing shadows. It’s not until they’re nearly back to the campground that Trini realizes they’re still holding hands, neither willing to let go. It’s too much right now; too big a thing to be alone with, so they hold tight to each other for a little bit longer.

“Did we just...talk to the redwoods?” Kim asks finally, once they’re sitting by their small campfire. It’s the first thing either of them have said since the Grid released them.

“I think so. Or maybe it was the Zeo Crystal? Talking through the redwoods?” 

“Huh,” Kim says. “You know, after they saved us from that train I really shouldn’t be surprised by what our coins can do, but I was not expecting that.”

“Nope.” Trini looks around the campgrounds, at the other campers huddled around their fires or zipping themselves into their tents, blissfully unaware. “The boys are gonna be so jealous.”

Kim shrugs. “Sucks for them.”

That breaks the spell and they both dissolve into laughter. Kim collapses against Trini while they both gasp for air, eyes streaming with something that isn’t quite mirth. 

Kim doesn’t move once they’ve recovered enough to breathe normally again, and Trini lets herself enjoy the closeness, pushing down the stab of guilt that bubbles up out of habit or conditioned response. 

“I think I get it now,” Trini says quietly after a while. “Why we have to go back.”

“Me too.” There’s a sad resignation in Kim’s voice and Trini wishes she could do something, anything, to make it disappear. To ease the weight of their destiny.

Trini puts her arm around Kim and pulls her close. They sit like that for a long time, staring at the slowly dying fire, pretending that it’s enough.

***

They sit in a park in Portland eating donuts. It’s warm and sunny and Trini appreciates being in a city again after their experience in the redwoods. There’s something oddly comforting about knowing the buildings won’t talk back.

“These are so much better than Krispy Kreme,” Kim says, taking a bite of her maple bacon bar. “Why can’t the Zeo Crystal be under this place instead?”

“At least Krispy Kreme is cheap. These things were like three bucks a pop.” Trini eyes her donut skeptically. It’s covered in Captain Crunch and she’s not sure how she feels about that yet. “And can you imagine Zack on a sugar high? No thank you.”

“Alright Jason,” Kim says, rolling her eyes.

“Hey,” Trini protests. “I’m so much cooler than Jason.”

Kim scoffs. “Whatever you say.”

Trini makes a face and eats her donut. It’s better than she expected, so that’s something at least. 

They sit in the grass and people watch. You’d never see a guy with a handlebar mustache or an extra tall bike in Angel Grove. Trini wonders what it must be like to live somewhere where it’s impossible to stick out. Where weird is the norm. 

She quickly stops that train of thought before it makes her sad. 

“Thanks,” Kim says, breaking the amiable silence. “For running away with me. Even if we do have to go back.”

Trini looks away from a man bouncing a unicycle down some steps to find Kim watching her intently.

“Anytime,” she says, and she means it. She would throw everything away, consequences be damned, if Kim asked. 

Kim must see it on her face because she looks away, suddenly serious. “I needed to get away from..well..from all of it.”

She trails off, fiddling with the grass. When she finally speaks again her voice is thick with something -- sadness or anger or frustration Trini can’t quite tell. “I’m just so afraid that no matter what we do, no matter how many times we save the world, I’ll never be anything but the bitch who punched Ty Flemming’s tooth out. I’ll always be the mean girl who everyone hates.”

“Fuck what everyone else thinks,” Trini says, surprised by her own intensity. “Everyone that matters knows you’re not that person anymore. I know you’re not that person. So do Jason and Zack and Billy. And anyone who says otherwise is gonna have to go through us.”

“You really believe that?” Kim asks, staring fixedly at the grass. 

It breaks Trini’s heart to see Kim like this. She wishes more than anything that Kim could see herself the way that she sees Kim: strong and beautiful and more alive than anyone she’s ever met. But Trini’s pretty sure that would be a weird thing to say, so she settles for something less loaded.

“Of course.” Trini bumps Kim’s shoulder with her own. “We’re not just Power Rangers, Kim. We’re friends.”

Kim finally looks up at her with so much tenderness that for a second Trini swears -- but that’s impossible and Kim blinks and looks away and the moment passes. Trini kicks herself for even thinking it. 

“C’mon,” Trini says, pushing herself to her feet. “We still have more driving to do before we get to the whales you promised me.”

Kim laughs as she gets up, brushing grass from her pants. “Who knew you’d be so single minded.”

“What part of I love whales did you not understand?” Trini tosses back as she heads to the car.

She can feel Kim’s eyes on her as she walks away, and not for the first time she wishes it were all as simple as she wants it to be.

***

Trini stands on the deck of the tour boat, braced against the chill wind coming off the water. Next to her, Kim scans the horizon with a pair of binoculars. It’s been nearly an hour without a whale sighting, despite the tour’s guarantee of both orca and humpbacks, and Trini’s starting to get bored.

Her mind wanders back to the redwoods, and the way the power coins connected them to the entire forest. It gives her an idea.

Closing her eyes she reaches out to the Morphing Grid. Her armor presses against her mind -- an itch at the back of her neck asking to be let out -- but she pushes it back, instead finding the dim warmth of the Zeo Crystal refracting through her power coin.

She grips the soft strands of light that emanate from her power coin with her mind, letting them pull her into the Grid.

\--she’s five, stomping around the playground pretending she’s a killer whale, chomping everything in her way --she’s fourteen, listening to her parents fight about moving again and resolving not to care about all the people she’s leaving behind --she’s seventeen and a superhero and Billy’s body is heavy on her shoulders --it’s three days ago and she’s watching Kim sing along to the radio, wondering when exactly she fell so hard

She pushes through the memories, searching for the lines of connection within the Grid. She finds them again, pulsing softly in the water and she follows them, plunging her mind into the water. 

Suddenly she’s surrounded by more life than she can properly conceive of. Like in the forest she can see it all connecting, from the plankton and algae to the large predators stalking the depths -- fish with razor sharp teeth and keen, angry eyes. She sees the way the sunlight feeds the algae who feed the plankton who in turn feed the fish and on up the chain. 

But she doesn’t just see it -- she hears it too. The water is alive with song. Music unlike anything she’s every heard before. It surrounds her and fills her, drawing her towards the source: a large form taking shape in the murky water.

She’s pulled out of the Grid by Kim nudging her, pointing out at the water. Trini blinks, her vision clearing just in time to see a massive gray figure break the surface of the water. The people on the boat let out a collective ‘ooh’ and start taking pictures but Trini can’t tear her eyes away.

“Thanks,” she says to Kim, once the whale disappears back into the water. “For this.”

Kim smiles and bites her lip and Trini is suddenly very aware of the other people on the boat, watching the water for the briefest glimpse of a dorsal fin or a blowhole. 

“God this is so cliche,” Kim says, shaking her head.

Trini is genuinely confused by that but before she can ask Kim’s hand is on her neck and Kim’s mouth is on hers and Kim’s kissing her. It’s soft and self conscious and over almost as soon as it began. 

Trini blinks up at Kim, too surprised to do anything but remind herself to breathe.

“Was that okay?” Kim asks, pulling away slightly, concern in her voice.

“Yeah,” Trini says when she remembers how to talk. “More than okay.”

She goes up on her toes and kisses Kim back. Kim’s lips are dry from the wind and salty from the sea air, but it’s the sweetest thing Trini’s ever tasted. She wants nothing more than to savor it forever, but the tour guide points out a pod of orca off the other side of the boat, and crowd shifts around them, forcing them apart. 

Trini pulls back self consciously, craning her neck to see around the crowd.

“You want to go see the orcas, don’t you?” Kim says, as if Trini’s the most adorable thing she’s ever seen.

Trini would protest, but she really does want to see the orca, so she nods and pulls Kim across the boat. 

Kim laughs and follows and Trini thinks this might just be the happiest day of her life. 

***

“I think this thing hates me,” Trini says, looking at the half assembled tent that’s somehow managed to turn itself inside out.

Kim looks over from where she’s arranging kindling in the fire pit. “Jeez, Trin, how’d you even manage that?”

“I told you. It hates me.”

Kim laughs and gets up, wrapping her arms around Trini from behind. Trini leans into her, still unable to believe that she’s allowed to. That this is just what they do now. 

Granted, it’s only been a day and they spent pretty much all of it driving to Yosemite, so she can be forgiven for not being used to it yet.

“Why don’t we switch jobs,” Kim says. “Because I do want a place to sleep tonight.”

Trini grumbles but goes to start the fire, secretly relieved. As much as she hates admitting it, the tent has bested her. 

Kim joins her right as she’s getting the fire going. “We might even make a camper of you yet.”

“I wouldn’t bet on it,” Trini says, sitting back on her heels and admiring her handywork. 

“Oh, I almost forgot,” Kim says suddenly, getting up and heading back to the car. She digs around in the trunk for a minute before emerging with a bottle of rum. “I was saving this for something special, and now is as good a time as any.”

“Was this your plan all along?” Trini asks, raising an eyebrow at Kim. “Seduce me with whales and then get me drunk in the woods?”

Kim sits down next to Trini and leans against her, taking a swig and handing her the bottle. “Not really. That was a happy accident. My actual plan was mostly to not think about college for a couple of days.”

“Did it work?” Trini asks, taking a drink. It burns its way down and she suppresses a shiver. 

“Not really,” Kim says, staring into the flames. 

It breaks Trini’s heart. Because she knows how Kim feels -- trapped and afraid and unsure whether she even wants the destiny she’s been saddled with and guilty that she’s ever thought about abandoning the sacred duty she’s be charged with.

But she doesn’t know what to say to make it better so she settles for trying to lighten the mood. 

“College is overrated,” she says, taking another drink and handing the bottle back to Kim.

“Really?” Kim asks skeptically.

“Yeah,” Trini says, trying to believe herself. “You would have what? Gone to USC and --”

Kim cuts her off, looking offended. “USC? Don’t insult me. I would have gone to UCLA. I’m a third generation Bruin.”

“Alright. UCLA then.” Trini shakes her head, amused by how dead serious Kim is. “And you would have majored in...I don’t know...something artsy but practical. Graphic design maybe?”

Kim rolls her eyes, but she doesn’t correct her, so she continues. “You pledge Kappa Kappa Psi --”

“Psi Phi Delta,” Kim interjects.

“Really?” Trini can’t keep the judgement out her voice at that one. 

“What? My grandma was a Psi Phi,” Kim says defensively.

“Fine,” Trini says. “You pledge Psi Phi and probably get way too into Greek life or whatever. You meet John the finance major at a mixer with Beta Delta Gamma sophomore year and start dating and he’s nice enough. Kinda basic but he gets a good job right out of school and proposes right after graduation. You move to New York so he can work on Wall Street and you get a job in marketing and it’s not exactly what you want to do but hey, it’s a job.”

She’s getting into the story now, the alcohol making her bold. Kim watches her intently, clearly unconvinced.

“You’re married by the time you’re twenty-three and have two kids by the time you’re thirty. Johnny Jr. and….hmmm...Kaitlyn I think. With a y.”

“You’re naming my future kids now?” Kim asks, raising an eyebrow.

“If you’re going to keep interrupting I’m taking away the rum,” Trini sayas, snatching the bottle.

“Fine, I’ll be quiet,” Kim says, amusement starting to creep into her voice.  

“Alright, where was I?” Trini hands the bottle back, trying to remember where she left off.

“Naming my future children,” Kim says, rolling her eyes.

“Oh yeah, right. So you have two kids with John and he’s not always around because he works a lot but he’s a good dad, all things considered. You spend your thirties raising your kids and worrying about getting them into the right preschools so they can get into good schools or whatever. Full on PTA mom. But John gets more distant as the kid get older and eventually it comes out that he’s been sleeping with his secretary for like, years.”

“The bastard,” Kim says with mock indignation.

“Right? You leave him but now you’ve got two kids in high school and you haven’t worked in over a decade and it sucks. You make it work, because you’re Kimberly Hart and you can do anything you set your mind to, but it’s hard. And sometimes, you see a flash of yellow and you wonder what you’re missing. Where your life went wrong. All because you went to college.”

Kim looks at her in disbelief before breaking into laughter. And before too long Trini’s laughing too because it’s silly and the rum’s making her warm and light and it’s so good to see Kim laugh.

“Well that’s...bleak,” Kim says after she recovers.

“I’m just saying, college ain’t all it’s cracked up to be.”

“Alright,” Kim says, taking a healthy swig. “But did you really have to give me a frat bro husband? I would never date someone who wears boat shoes.”

“It’s a good think I don’t own any boat shoes then,” Trini says, resting her head on Kim’s shoulder. Kim loops her arm around Trini’s waist and presses a soft kiss into her hair.

“Where would you have gone?” Kim asks after a while. “To college I mean?”

“I’ve wanted to go to Berkeley since I was 15,” Trini says. It’s harder to admit than she expected. Like she’s tearing open a barely healed wound. But it’s easier with Kim sitting next to her, holding her close. “But I was also thinking about UC San Diego because they have a better marine bio program.”

“Hmmm. I can see you at Berkeley but not at UCSD,” Kim says thoughtfully. “You’re more of a grungy stoner lesbian than a surfer type, yaknow?”

“Hey,” Trini protests. “I’m neither of those things. I’m very cool and, and badass.”

The alcohol is definitely getting the better of her. She should probably stop talking before she embarasses herself anymore. 

“Very badass,” Kim says, smiling warmly, the firelight reflecting in her soft brown eyes. She leans down and kisses Trini. She tastes like rum and woodsmoke and it’s just about perfect.

Trini could get used to this -- kissing Kimberly Hart.

“C’mon. I didn’t put that tent together for nothing,” Kim says after a while.

Trini can hardly believe how lucky she is. 

***

Two days later they’re getting ready to leave, for the final push back to Angel Grove, when Kim freezes, staring wide eyed at something just over Trini’s shoulder.

“Don’t turn around,” she says in a low voice. “Just walk towards me.”

“Um Kim, you’re scaring me,” Trini says, taking a tentative step towards where Kim is standing by the car.

“There’s a bear behind you.”

Before she finishes speaking Trini spins around, coming face to face with a black bear nearly as tall as she is. And her bear spray is in the front pocket of her backpack, which is already in the car. Great. This is exactly how she wanted to spend her morning.

“I said not to turn around,” Kim says, her voice still low but now edged with panic. “Play dead or something.”

“That’s for grizzlies, not black bears.” Trini desperately tries to remember what Billy told her about bears. “I think you’re supposed to be aggressive towards it. So it knows you’re not food.”

“Are you sure?”

“No.” She slowly takes a step back. That gets the bear’s attention, and it looks directly at her.

She tries to look unappetizing.

She considers her options. Even this early in the morning there’s a smattering of people around the campground, so she can’t morph. And she seriously doubts she can outrun the thing. Kim maybe could but Trini’s not quite that fast. Which leaves being aggressive towards it. And really, it can’t be worse than the putties they fight in the pit like every other day. Probably.

Shit. She’s gonna have to fight a bear. And this trip was going so well too.

“Sorry about this,” she says, not sure whether she’s talking to Kim or the bear.

She springs forward, closing the small distance between them as fast as she can, putting all her momentum behind her fist. Her punch connects with the bear’s face, hitting it squarely between the eyes. 

It rears back, stunned, and she takes advantage of it’s momentary distraction, rolling to the side and sprinting back to the car. 

Kim looks almost as surprised as the bear, but she shakes it off, vaulting over the hood of the car and sliding into the driver’s seat just as Trini reaches the passenger side.

“Go go go!” Trini says, pulling the door closed behind her and looking back to where the bear has finally recovered.

Kim takes off, driving faster than is probably safe on the campground’s unpaved roads.

Once they make it to the main road and the adrenaline starts to wear off Kim looks over at Trini. “Really? Really?”

“What else was I supposed to do?”

Kim shakes her head, but Trini can see the smile pulling at her lips. “A little warning next time, please.”

“If you think I’m ever going camping again after this week you are mistaken,” Trini says. 

“Oh I can be very convincing,” Kim says slyly. 

Trini feels the heat rise in her cheeks, so she turns to stare out the window, refusing to let Kim see her blush.

***

The drive back home is mostly silent. The closer they get to Angel Grove the more the past week feels like a dream. Like one of the stories she used to make up to entertain her brothers.

In the stories the hero always beat the bad guys and got the girl. But if the past year has taught her anything it’s that life isn’t nearly that simple. Even when you’re a superhero. 

It has to be too good to be true. Rita must be lurking around the next corner to attack or Kim must not be serious about this or or a million other things that could go wrong between here and her happy ending.

She tries to push the panic that rises up in her chest back down, to convince herself that she finally caught a break, but it’s no use. All she can hear is the traitorous part of herself that reminds her that she and Kim haven’t really talked about it. That for all she knows, it was all a lark for Kim, and when they get home it will be like it never even happened. She’ll go back to having a crush on her best friend, made all the more painful by the knowledge of what she almost had.

“You’re awfully quiet over there,” Kim says after a while, and Trini realizes she’s been brooding for well over half the drive. “You okay?”

“We’re good right?” Trini asks, forcing herself to look at Kim, fighting against all her better judgement and ingrained instincts that are telling her to run. To not ask questions she doesn’t know the answer to. To not let herself be vulnerable for fear of being hurt.

“What do you mean?” Kim asks, confusion clear in her voice. 

Trini swallows, not wanting to ask, but needing to know. “I mean, like...this isn’t just a fling for you is it?”

“Of course not.” The hurt in Kim’s voice makes Trini wish she’d left well enough alone. “Do you really think I’d do that to you?”

“No. No, not really. I just…” Trini struggles to put words to the fear that’s suddenly consuming her. “I don’t know. This whole trip has been, well, crazy. There were talking trees and I fought a bear and...and I guess I’m afraid that when we get home everything’s going to go back to the way it was before…”

Saying it out loud makes it seem really lame, even to her. God she’s such an idiot. Can’t even have one nice thing for more than a couple of days before she screws it up. This is why she never used to try.

“Hey.” Kim reaches across the console and takes her hand, lacing their fingers together. “We’re good. I’m serious about this. About you.”

Trini looks down at their hands and then back up at Kim, who’s lit up by the afternoon sun, making her all the more beautiful. “I’m serious about you too.”

Kim smiles and Trini’s fear ebbs away. No matter what, they’re in this together.

***

“What do you mean you punched a bear?” Zack asks from where he’s draped over the open car door.    
  
The boys descended on them within minutes of their arrival, and are now pestering them about their trip under the guise of helping unpack Kim’s car. Jason and Billy helped, while Zack mostly pested. 

“Billy said to be aggressive towards them, so I, you know,” Trini mines punching the air, “was aggressive.”

“I didn’t mean that you should attack it,” Billy says, concerned. “Most of the time when people are aggressive towards bears in situations where bears have acclimatized to a moderate human presences they make loud noises, such as banging pots and pans together or yelling at the bear until it retreats. Of course this only works on black and brown bears that prefer not to fight their prey if possible, unlike the much more aggressive grizzly bear --”

“Whoa there Billy,” Jason says fondly and Billy stops, looking around self consciously.

“It was good advice,” Trini says with a shrug. “The bear did leave.”   
  
Jason turns back to her, concern on his face. “You’re sure no one saw you?”

“If you mean did I give away my secret identity then no,” Trini says, rolling her eyes. “I didn’t morph. Our secret’s safe.”

“You mean the littlest Ranger found off a bear...bare handed?” Zack laughs as everyone else groans.

“Hey, who are you calling little?” Trini protests, but she can’t help but smile. She’s missed them -- even Zack -- more than she realized. They snuck into her life when she wasn’t paying attention and now she can’t imagine life without them. She doesn’t know what she’d do without Zack’s bad jokes and Billy’s easy excitement and Jason’s quiet concern.

Kim emerges from the garage, where she was stowing the last of the camping gear. She looks at the group fondly before taking Trini’s hand and gently shoo-ing the boys away. “Alright time to go. We’ll tell you all about it tomorrow.”

If the boys notice how close they’re standing, or the way Kim’s thumb traces the back of Trini’s hand they don’t say anything. Although Jason does give them a suspiciously warm smile as he herds Zack back down the driveway, Billy close behind.

Once they leave Kim pulls her close, kissing her gently. It’s a quick kiss, full of promises of more to come. 

Trini still doesn’t know what the future holds. She doesn’t know how many times she’s going to have to save the world, or what toll her destiny is going to extract. But for the first time since she became a Ranger she’s okay with that. Because for everything she’s lost, she’s gained so much more.

It’s good to be home.

**Author's Note:**

> An important disclaimer is that I've never been to any of the places described so please forgive any mistakes. Also I made some extrapolations about how the Zeo Crystal actually functions so there's that. 
> 
> I would claim that any mistakes re: nature are because I'm not a biologist but I literally am a biologist, just not that kind of biologist so idk anymore.


End file.
